The natural cycle of a wild plant in Ontario inevitably involves winter. While most of us think of spring as “planting season,” that won’t work for a lot of native pollinators: they need winter, or a winter simulation, as part of the process that will allow them to germinate in the summer.
The easiest solution is to plant seeds in the fall, but sometimes we want to protect them from being eaten or moved, or be sure that they will germinate. “Stratification,” which literally means “layering,” is one way of doing this, which we’re trying here for the first time this year. While one stratification method is simply putting seeds in the freezer, sometimes with soil, starting seeds in winter outdoors combines meeting its cold needs with getting an early start on germination.
Last year I tried an outdoor method that didn’t work: covering the pots with a small frame protected with chickenwire from predators and wind. Either something got in anyway or I planted them incorrectly, but I didn’t get the native plants I was hoping for.
Now Nik, Ko and I are trying the jug sowing method: big water bottles that a neighbour no longer needs with drainage holes added to the bottom, soil, seeds, and duct tape to close up the bottles with the cap on the top to let in some moisture. Keeping them outdoors will provide the coldness needed, the open mouth will let rain in, and when the warmer weather comes the translucent bottle will amplify the sun’s heat to give the seeds a jump start.
We’ve got about eight varieties, harvested from the our pollinator garden, a private garden, and a highway overpass: asters, goldenrods, milkweeds, foxglove beardtongue, and great blue lobelia. Nothing has emerged at this very early point, but keep watching for updates!